The Fire
by Jkit45
Summary: A collection of Fshep/Garrus drabbles. ME1-ME3.
1. Chapter 1

**Like I said before—my job is pretty demanding, and I deal with my stress by being haunted by plot bunnies. I do intend to update Compass soon so please bear with me : ) **

**Also. I finally beat ME3 and the ending killed me inside…so that will be addressed later in this. For now I'm trying to go in some semblance of chronological order but we'll see what happens as this continues. **

**A collection of Garrus/Femshep drabbles because I just cannot get enough of these two. Hopefully will contain lemons! :D **Open to requests****

**I do not own Mass Effect or any related characters. **

**The Fire**

There was a human saying which he never understood. Correction: there were a lot of human sayings he didn't understand. Not that a lot of people _did _understand humans. They were newcomers. He'd had no contact with the young space fairing race aside from his time at the citadel. Garrus supposed he didn't mind them. Not as destructive as krogan, not as stuck up as asari.

"Fire in the eyes."

"Fire in the eyes? Sounds more of torture than…" Garrus cleared his throat, "Compliment."

"Like…I don't know…someone who's determined." Mike Thomson, one of the newest recruits, tried, "There's a shine in their eyes. You can tell. It's a personality trait, I guess."

"'A shine'?" Garrus mimicked, folding his arms over his chest, staring into the blue of Officer Thomson's eyes. He wasn't seeing much aside from the typical glossy wetness human eyes showed underneath the bright lighting in the office—human eyes were always shiny that way. Blue was a common turian eye color as well. Blue or orange. He wondered if that was what Thomson meant, though he usually didn't pay much attention. He'd have to look out for orange eyed humans, "The color of flames?"

"No, no." Bailey shook his head, "We don't have eyes that color. It's a spark, you know someone is really driven."

Garrus didn't know what they were trying to get at, but he nodded along anyway. He'd have to make a mental note to look into the eyes of humans whenever he got the chance. This was a fascinating idea, and he was curious.

Commander Shepard had what an asari would probably call an 'aura about her'. She was tall, not as tall as him, but her confidence made her seem to stand higher. The human caught his gaze and held it, her intensity was hard to pull away from. Cropped dark hair and skin the color of coffee with cream, he made a point to allow himself to be drawn into her magnetic eyes.

Dark eyes, almost black, but a glow about them. Something which flickered in her when she talked to him. The anger and hurt, deep determination to set the wronged right. Yes, Garrus realized. This woman was going to be the one who would stop Saren and he made a promise to himself to do whatever it took to help her.

After all: she had the fire in her eyes.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Coffee

**Wrote this during lunch. Hoping to get a little more hot and heavy as this goes along. Another fun drabble for now. **

**Coffee**

"You're addicted to it. Simple as that." He leaned back in his chair. Tali shifted her weight. Ashley sat with them at the table in the crew area, glancing at Shepard, both humans sipping on steaming mugs. Garrus supposed the scent wasn't as bad as it could have been considering it was _their _food.

Commander Shepard hovered at the end of the table, she'd been running across the crew quarters to reach her office when Ashley offered her a cup, "Made too much." The soldier had grumbled.

Garrus knew it had been on purpose. His commander had a habit of running herself ragged. She stopped, spending a moment on sink down on long legs, "How long to Noveria?" He asked.

"About twelve hours, it's a haul." Shepard said, taking another sip of her coffee, "How you holding up, Garrus? Tali?"

"Fine, Commander." He replied, making sure to steal a glance into her eyes, catching the same flicker which he always enjoyed. The fire.

"Good, I say again, your ship is beautiful, Commander Shepard." Tali said.

Humans women were pretty. More than that. Sensual, even. Maybe it was just Shepard, her intensity. Her dark shiny eyes underneath the lighting over the table, "How's the coffee?" He asked, trying to strike up conversation. She was his commander and another species. Surely she wasn't interested. Garrus pushed such foolish thoughts from his head. Just friends was fine for now.

"Good. Thanks, Ash." Shepard sank fully into the chair at the end of the table.

Garrus caught her in the kitchen again later, pouring hot water into a cup and mixing in the grinds. She paused, as if knowing someone was behind her, "Vakarian?"

"Commander." He stated.

"Everything okay?"

"Fine, ma'am." He stated, most of the crew was asleep now, catching up on shut eye before making a landing at the snowy corporate colony.

"I'd offer you coffee, but..." That seemed to be a human thing: a cup of coffee was an offering of peace or friendliness. His allergies had never been too bad, maybe he'd take some meds and then try a cup one of these days. Garrus laughed.

"It's alright."

"Aren't you off duty now, Vakarian?"

"Could same the same about you, ma'am."

Shepard chuckled this time, showing her flat white teeth. She took out a canister of powder and added a scoop, "A bit on edge, you could say."

"Isn't a coffee a stimulant?" Garrus asked her, and she didn't reply, instead reached for little white packets and tore them open. More granular white powder was inside, "Is that part of the coffee?"

"Condensed milk and sugar. Makes it more palatable."

His stomach contracted. On second through, trying a cup of coffee didn't seem so good anymore, "So animal secretions and chemicals boiled out -?"

"You don't have to describe it like that." Shepard cut him off, shaking her head.

"I've learned a lot of things serving with you ma'am… but, with all due respect, human dining habits are strange." Garrus watched her stir the coffee, it turned a light tan color with the additions—the way Bailey liked drink his coffee. The color which matched Shepard's faintly scarred skin tone.

"Glad you're finding the _Normandy _informative, Garrus." He sensed a teasing her in her voice and smiled, "Get some rest."

"You too, ma'am."

**Thanks for reading! **


	3. If I Die Young

**Well, skipping ahead to ME2. Want to get into some more angsty stuff. Enjoy my silent readers :) **

**If I Die Young **

Ashley screamed, screamed until her lungs hurt and then realized she was still screaming, "God-dammit, Vakarian! Sit down! We can't go back!" The escape pod didn't have advanced directional controls. It auto-piloted to the nearest alliance ship to pick up the distress beacon. A one trick pony.

"Where I'm from we don't leave without our Commanding Officer!" Garrus growled, trying again to get through her, to get to the control panel, "Maybe you do things differently!" There was nothing he could do but inadvertently turn off the autopilot, but without it, it was very likely they'd be pulled into the gravity of the planet beneath them. His head wasn't on straight enough for her to be confident to allow him, or anyone for that matter, to try and take over manual.

"SIT DOWN!" She screeched, her voice crackling in the microphone, echoing in her helmet. Adrenaline was a miracle worker at times like this, gave her a high which let her keep going despite the protests of her body—a woman with a job she intended to see through, "Garrus, sit down! You think I want to leave her?! She gave us an order!" Ashley tired not to let her voice break. Tried not to see the wreckage of the Normandy burning outside the window, tried not to see the limp body with the very familiar red-striped armor. _Gone. She's gone. Couldn't get to her in time, her suit was breached, no way…Hold it together. You're in charge. You're the top officer in this lifeboat. _She told herself over and over.

"_Williams! Now! The crew!" _Commander Shepard's voice, fresh in her memory. Ashley did her best to shut it out. His body trembled, as did hers. Ashley supposed it was interesting. She was more like this alien being than she ever wanted to admit.

"Williams!" He growled, attempting to shove her aside, "We have to go back!"

"Sit your ass down!" She put herself in the way, advanced on him. Heart pumped. If his turian ass wanted to underestimate the power of a human woman having an adrenaline rush, _a protective adrenaline rush, _he had a big surprise coming. There were people depending on her, not just Garrus who seemed to be as attached to Shepard as a puppy plucked out of a river. Ashley felt bad as soon as she thought it, she was just as close to the commander as he was. Shepard and her had their share of late night coffee breaks together, "That planet's gravity will drag us in! We all die, you understand?!"

"Williams! She's…out there…" Behind the tinted mask, she couldn't see his face, but his voice was enough of a tell. He was a broken man. Restless crew members ignored their altercation, straining in harnesses to see the wreckage, collective distressed breathing over their communicators.

Ashley stepped forward, grabbing Garrus hard by the cowl, "She's gone, Vakarian! Snap out of it! I need you! Killing yourself won't bring her back, I'm sorry, she's gone, Garrus. We have to get out of here!"

He wavered, she held herself, expecting the turian to try to push passed her again. Instead he shifted, allowing himself to sink into the seat as the pod rattled. His movements reminded Ashley of an arthritic old human, retreating causing him physical pain, "Let's get out of here, soldiers." She breathed hard herself, giving a nod at Garrus.

"Yes, ma'am." He stared at the floor.

_**The angst : ) **_


	4. An Unfortunate Reunion

Finally, some good angst : ) Thanks to my readers!

**An Unfortunate Reunion**

Garrus Vakarian. Garrus fucking Vakarian was Archangel. Shepard wasn't sure what to make of it. Bullets whizzing past her, pinging off of her shields. She didn't have time for sticker shock. They were under attack and it was obvious her old friend grew fatigued.

"Garrus!" His name ripped from her raw throat, her own ache from a bullet catching her armor in the shoulder disappeared. Everything was only Garrus, the body writhing in pain on the ground, strugging for cover and leaving behind a trail of viscous blue droplets. The vicious fire from the tank, "GET THAT THING OUT OF THE SKY!" She yelled, Miranda and Jacob laid down a suppressing fire, enough to gain a lull in the firing as the captain attempted evasive maneuvers.

She knew from their previous actions that the stabilizers had never been completely repaired. Shepard stood, pulling the grenade launcher from her back. Ears rang as the weapon took painfully long to lock on to the massive target before her.

Butt of the launcher rocked against her shoulder, a plume of smoke erupted in her face. Distantly, the shell hit its mark. Square on its mark.

Another blast of heat, this time from the fireball which had once been a tank, blooming like a deadly flower, as if the tank had attempted to hold itself together but couldn't. Instead imploded, pieces of charred metal falling through the open windows around them, a suffocating black smoke engulfing the base. Rank stench of burning flesh and metal stuck in her nostrils.

"Garrus!" She cried again, Miranda bent over him with her omni-tool. Jacob tried desperately to keep the delirious turian pinned.

"Don't move, man. Don't move. You have to hold still for the omni-gel to work!"

"Garrus!" Shepard rushed to him.

"Stats not good." Miranda said, reading something off the screen.

"Call Joker. Make sure the _Normandy _medbay is ready for us!"

She reached out behind her, a blanket laid over the back of one of the couches. Shepard breathed hard—the exhaustion of the battle and the shock of seeing one of her best friends in such a state, "Garrus! Stay with me!" He came to with a gasp, struggling against Jacob and trying to sit up.

_Guess that medi-gel really works. _At least he was obviously breathing now, albeit the breaths came in pained gasps.

"Don't!" She growled at him, "Garrus! Garrus! Look at me!" The turian squirmed again, his face bled terribly, head resting in a puddle of dark blue blood. She felt it on her gloves, oily and warm, soaking through the blanket, "Easy, Garrus." Shepard kept her voice low, tried not to show her fear. His eyes were glossy, unseeing, darting around like a cornered animal. Without thinking she swung her leg over his chest, straddling him in an effort to get better access to the injury.

Shepard took the blanket and pressed it against his face, holding his head down with both of her hands, "S..Shep?" He breathed hard, moaning softly as she applied more pressure.

"Hang on Vakarian. You're going to be fine. Miranda, where's the _Normandy?" _

"On their way, ma'am. Sending in a rescue team."

"Good." She tried her best to breathe, heart knocking in her throat, "Hang on, soldier. We're getting you out of here."

She felt like a hot mess, straddling an injured turian, wrestling with him as his face was surely painful and he seemed less than pleased about her pressing down on the wound. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Shepard wondered if anyone but Garrus would have been able to elicit such a reaction from her. A mental reaction, at least. She was more than prepared to hold down pressure on anyone's wound if so the need arose.

"Vitals are dropping!" Miranda cried out.

"For the love of god, Vakarian, you better stay alive." She growled through her teeth. Though she had his head pressed to the side, she saw his eyes straining to stay on her, struggling to focus, "Did you give him enough medi-gel?"

"Yes." Jacob said, "Maximum dose. It's bad, Shepard."

Miranda conveying the same words through the radio, telling the rescue team to hurry. She forced herself to breathe, refusing to allow her face to show the same turmoil as she felt inside. _Damn, Garrus, not like this. _

It was a blur as the rescue team loaded Garrus onto a gurney and rushed him to the med bay. Duty didn't allow her to remain at his side, instead pacing and trying to get a glimpse through the windows of the medical bay in between filing reports. She found herself back in the conference room hours later. He was in surgery, after all. She couldn't do anything for him. Shepard did her best to stop the trembles in her hands, "How is he?" Jacob had fallen into the role of keeping tabs for her.

She asked Jacob the moment he walked in, again trying her best to wash the concern from her face, "Doctor started using cybernetics to rebuild his face. Bad damage, and he lost a lot of blood. Out of surgery now. Should make a full recovery."

Shepard nodded, exhaling, "Good."

"I'm guessing he won't be up again for a—" The door swung open. Garrus sauntered into the room, standing square and facing Shepard, "Tough son of a bitch." Jacob muttered.

"They wouldn't let me have a mirror." Garrus complained, already back into his armor. His eyes looked slightly foggy, but Shepard knew that was from the medication. Aside from an ugly pink and blue mark down the side of his face and one of his mandibles badly burnt, he was the same Garrus. She could tell. Even if he was a little groggy, "They said I shouldn't leave but I figured I ought to get to work. You be honest with me Shepard, how bad is it?"

The words came naturally to her, seeing him up and mostly in one piece took a massive weight off of her shoulders, "Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face paint on there and you're all set."

He laughed, and cringed, "Ah…don't make me laugh…face hardly holding together as it is." Garrus brought his hand up, not quite making contact with the fresh incisions, lines of cauterized tissue, "You know some women find facial scars attractive?" She cocked her eyebrows at him, smirking and shaking her head. He was hitting on her, and the fact that Jacob was beautifully oblivious, filling out his own reports without notice to either of them, provided the icing on the cake, "Granted." Garrus chuckled and grimaced again, "Most of those women are krogan…well…I ought to get to it. I'll be on the main battery. The gun needs calibrations."

_That's not all that needs calibrations, scars. _Shepard thought and glanced at Jacob as soon as the door was closed. Blissfully unaware. She kept smiling, trying not to remember the terrifying look in Garrus' eyes as he lay, helpless and injured in his base.

_Never again. No more. _She assured herself, refusing to let thoughts of the mission with which they were faced come back into her mind. Right now, Garrus was back, and maybe if she was lucky she'd wake up beside a turian before they charged head first through the Omega-4 relay.


	5. Burns

Sorry for the long delay. I have another hard week coming up so I'm trying to de-stress myself by doing some writing.

**Burns**

The mission with Zaeed wasn't what she'd expected. She hadn't expected the refinery, the story behind the Blue Suns. Hadn't expected to leave a refinery full of workers behind as they bolted after Santiago. Their faces haunted her, as did the flames. Screams carrying through the air, sounds that would haunt her forever.

Burning pain from her wrist to her shoulder a constant reminder of the demise they'd only narrowly avoided themselves. The horrible noises from both the workers and Santiago himself etched into her brain forever. Flames melting flesh, the reek of burning hair and skin which had permeated her hair and clothes—Shepard wondered if she'd have to throw her armor away. If she had to smell it again she'd be ill. It was bad enough that the smell stuck in her nose.

"Ow! Doctor!" Shepard hissed through her teeth as the woman scrubbed at her burns. Bright white blisters against her flesh.

"Relax." Doctor Chakwas replied calmly, continuing to work at the injuries, "Second and third degree burns. You're lucky this wasn't worse, or more extensive given the fuel tanks catching on fire above your head. Very lucky."

Garrus leaned against one of the gurneys, shaking his head, huffing in breaths through a plastic mask upon the Doctor's request. Turians couldn't hold their breaths like humans could, and when the tanks exploded in the room with them, he'd inhaled enough smoke and toxins to have him still wheezing softly after two hours. Shepard felt the condensation of her breath in her own mask, she'd been in the room too but at least she'd been able to inhale selectively during the run outside.

The only one who'd escaped unharmed was Zaeed. Shepard supposed that was what rage did to a body. He had no intention to let the doctor near him despite her requests, instead had returned to the Normandy and disappeared somewhere.

Shepard coughed, tasting sooty phlegm on her tongue and groaning, "Keep breathing. Both of you." Chakwas ordered, "If I see those masks come off I'll beat you both within an inch of your lives." Shepard looked at Garrus who gave her a nod, his breathing fogged the plastic. Shepard wanted to get closer to him, go sit with him.

So she did. Chakwas finished bandaging her and left the two of them with her assistant under the orders not to stop breathing the oxygen for another hour with another threat about how she'd choke them out herself for putting her through the stress. Shepard supposed the explosions and toxic signatures had looked pretty bad even from orbit.

Shepard grabbed the oxygen tank with her good arm, carrying it across the room. Garrus scooted over on the edge of the gurney. She carefully sat beside him, "What a day, huh, commander?" His flanging voice sounded strained.

She smiled, stifling a cough into her mask, "What a day." Shepard croaked back. Garrus reached for the pitcher on the bedside table, pouring a bit of water into one of the plastic cups and then handing it to her, "Thanks."

"So…What we talked about." Garrus trailed off, coughing.

"Don't want to make you uncomfortable, Garrus." Shepard replied. Dr. Chakwas' assistant had her headphones in as she busied herself with paperwork, hopefully she wasn't eavesdropping.

"No…I want to." Garrus replied, "There's no one in this galaxy I respect more." He poured himself a pitcher of water.

"Cheers." Shepard held out her glass, Garrus stared at her blankly. She tapped her glass against hers, "Human thing." She stated, "For celebration."

"Ah—" Garrus cut off as he coughed deeply. His mandibles twitched below the mask. Meant to fit a human and not sitting quite right on his flat face.

Shepard tried her best not to let the images from the mission creep up on her. The screams. She shut her eyes and cleared her throat, "You okay?"

The assistant remained turned away, Shepard placed her hand on top of Garrus', "I will…" She coughed, "be."

His fingers wrapped around hers, "That was rough down there."

"At least it's over." She said, Garrus ran his thumb over the back of her hand. Timidly as if he was afraid to touch her different skin. Shepard forced herself to relax and scooted closer, her thigh against his.

"We'll get through this. Show the collectors who's boss." He assured, squeezing her hand harder. Garrus leaned in close. Shepard wondered if turians kissed, if he was going to try and kiss her. Her heart knocked, she moved her head toward him. _Come on, Garrus, I've practically thrown myself at you, you need to make a move at some point. _

The assistant stood to get more files and he pulled away, clearing his throat. Though, he still held her hand, their legs pressed together. She squeezed his hand tight as she spiraled into another fit of coughing, Garrus squeezed back, she sensed his eyes on her, "Yes…we will."

Thanks for reading!


	6. Swimming

**Here's another update. And also: I've realized some of these are sloppily written. Sorry about that. I might go back and make some corrections. **

**Note: I might have mentioned/described Garrus' breathing before which goes against this. From now on I'm going on the notion that turians are like many other animals where their breathing is like our heart rate. They can't stop, which is one of the reasons they don't swim. I might go back and fix some of it later with the other edits. **

**Breathing**

Humans apparently did this for fun. This vat of water sitting in the middle of a tile floor. A very deep vat of water. Five meters deep, to be exact. Dark and blue.

This was something you'd find in a cruel turian prison. A torture device. He swallowed and stepped carefully across the wet tile, as far from the water as he could get. Bare feet were hardly enough traction on the treacherous tiles. Garrus ran his hand along the wall, listening to the humans. Their laugher, voices echoing around the room.

_High ceilings aren't good for a turian's nerves. _He thought, every noise and footstep echoed. He inhaled the scent of the cleaning chemicals in the water. _So unsanitary. _

But this was Illium and apparently both asari and humans shared this pastime. Garrus looked around, Shepard had invited him along and he'd hoped someone else would have showed up. Tali sat cross-legged on one of the pool chairs, staring out over the water.

The very dark deep water which Shepard was very close to. She didn't seem to feel the anxiety he did, "Garrus!" Tali called out, patting the bench beside her. Garrus picked his way over.

Could quarians swim? He'd have to ask Tali that one of these days if the suit could be submerged under water. Shepard smiled at him, wearing a fitted spandex garment which he figured would be better for allowing her to glide through the water.

Garrus watched her, she slipped into the water and he had to fight himself not to jump. _Humans can swim! _He reminded himself.

_How long can she stay under? _He swallowed and watched, her form glided into the middle of the pool and she poked her head up. Jacob laughed about something and joined her in the water, making a full lap across the pool.

Garrus watched, Shepard went under again. _Sixty seconds. She can last a good minute. _He found himself counting, _fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven…_Shepard's head popped up.

Garrus felt his breathing settle. He couldn't imagine being able to stop. How did humans stop? Asari too? It was terrifying. He tried it, forced himself to breathe a little more deeply but stopping completely was out of the question.

He watched her dip underneath again, Garrus strained to see her, he felt his heart pump hard and his own breathing increase in response. Over a minute, two seconds over a minute. He forced himself to stay still. If he jumped in he knew his sorry ass would drown. Besides, an asari was sitting on the edge of the pool in a high chair with a special raft for bailing people out of the water. She'd take care of it if Shepard needed help.

Garrus couldn't swim, after all. Turians didn't swim. She poked her head out of the water and breathed deeply, saying something that he couldn't hear to Jacob.

_Thank you, spirits. _Garrus hung his head. This was stressful. He could handle collectors and Cerberus and all of those things, but this, watching Shepard almost drown herself over and over. This was terrifying. Granted, she didn't seem too distressed.

After the fifth time she went under he couldn't take it anymore, "Shepard!" He cried out as soon as her head came up. She whirled around in the water.

"Garrus?"

"Stop doing that, spirits, Shepard. Stop doing that!" She tossed her head back and laughed.

"Turians don't swim, do they?" Jacob laughed, flopping backwards in the water.

"Just stop." Garrus stated, standing carefully, "I can't watch this."

Shepard smiled, her flat teeth bright white under the florescent lighting, "Sorry." She hoisted herself out of the water, out of the very, very deep water. Towel wrapped around herself, Shepard begun to walk out of the pool room, looking over her shoulder, "You coming?"

He followed her back to her hotel room—another thing covered by Liara, "So…You do that for fun?"

"Yeah. And exercise." Shepard shrugged her shoulders. Her dark hair in ringlets from the wetness, sticking together in curly clumps, "It's alright. Humans are alright swimmers most of the time." Her soft, chlorine smelling hand brushed across his left mandible.

"Guess I get nervous waiting for you to come up for air." Garrus said. Shepard closed the distance between them. She pressed her lips against his cheek, a display of human affection he knew from his newly found hobby of researching the topic.

"Don't worry." Shepard smiled, taking his hands, "You're there to make sure I do."

"Y-yes." Garrus stammered, unsure what else to say, "Always."


End file.
